Jack moaned, blinked his eyes then jerked to sitting. Sound and motion made everything swirl.
"Easy, Jack. You're ok." Jack followed the voice to Doc Carl who sat on the edge of a cot. Jack looked down and saw the doc was in the middle of sewing up a long bloody crease along his ribs. Jack laid back as the pain burst through his confusion.
"What the hell?" He grumbled. He blinked and rubbed his head surprised to feel cold and sweaty. Doc Carl offered a kind smile, "Oh, right." Jack rolled onto his side and held his hand up allowing Doc Carl to return to his sewing. He realized they were both in a Phoenix ambulance. Everything rushed back to him. He went to sit up again. Doc Carl stopped him with a firm gloved hand on the older man's shoulder.
"I'm almost done." He said. Jack huffed and leaned back.
"Cage? Mac?" Jack narrowed his eyes as he saw Doc Carl glance at him then away. Jack felt his stomach drop. He grabbed the younger man's shoulder, "Doc?"
"Cage is fine." Jack pushed up to an elbow.
"What about Mac?" Doc Carl sighed as he put in the last complicated knot. He sat back snapping off his gloves.
"We don't know. After the fight Cage went out to get the med kit from the Shelby both were gone."
"Gone? Gone how?" Jack pushed to sitting and paused as everything see-sawed around him. Doc Carl shrugged and wrapped a bandage around Jack's chest. Jack took a steadying breath. He hesitated and studied the curly-haired doctor.
"Why did you come out here?"
"Matty didn't want to waste time, and we all knew you wouldn't stay at Phoenix longer than it took you to find your clothes." Jack grinned and patted the doctor on the shoulder.
"You're a good man, buddy." Doc Carl shook his head and handed Jack a pile of new clothes.
"Mac's house isn't far from here. We're going to set up a base there. Bozer gave me these." Jack nodded. Doc Carl leaned over and handed Jack a packet of baby wipes. Jack wiped the extra blood off his chest and arm. He glanced at the young doctor. The man seemed more withdrawn than usual.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked as he wriggled into a new set of black jeans. Doc Carl shook his head.
"I'm worried about Mac...and Sally." Jack shoved a foot into his boot and paused.
"She's still freaked out?"
"Yeah, she'd never seen Mac like that and when he hit her...I've seen that woman weather some of the worst storms you guys go through, but for some reason, this bothered her more than all of that. She's even talking about leaving Phoenix."
"What?" Jack stomped the boot down hard and stared at Doc Carl in shock. Jack shook his head, "Don't let her. We'll get this all straightened out when we get the kid back, ok?" Doc Carl grinned.
"Thanks, Jack." Jack nodded and jumped down from the ambulance he paused holding onto the back bumper until the swimming world stopped sloshing around him.
"Jack! You're awake!" Riley called as she jogged to his side. Jack smiled as she gently hugged him. Jack stumbled a step. Riley pulled back and eyed the man, "You're almost as pale as Mac. Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine, do we know anything?" Jack strode toward the cottage. Cop and Phonix techs swarmed in and out of the yellow bordered crime scene. Jack ducked under the tape and stepped into the small building.
"Cage and Matty are in the back room grilling the prisoner."
"The Oswalds?"
"No, they were killed by the bad guys. You left one alive."
"Must be slipping," Jack growled. Riley smiled. Jack paused taking in the ruins of the house. The floor was still slick with drying blood and debris. The bodies were gone. Jack wrinkled his nose. No matter how many times he'd been around death, there's something about the smell that never quite set right with him.
Jack crossed to the living room and crept over more destruction. Jack tripped over a cord from a lamp. Riley steadied him and looked at him worried. Jack landed hard on his left foot. He froze.
"Did you hear that?" He asked. Riley frowned.
"Hear what?" Jack stomped again. They both heard a hollow thud. Jack stepped back and kicked broken furniture and glass off the carpet as he studied the carpet. Riley crouched and looked closer to the misplaced Armoire.
"I don't see anything." She said. Jack looked up at one of the lab techs.
"Dude, you got a knife?" Jack knelt and cut through the carpet. They found the outline of a trapdoor covered in drywall and plaster.
"They don't expect to use that again," Riley noted. Jack nodded and frowned. He leaned forward and put his ear against the floor. His eyes widened.
"There's somebody down there!" Four cops joined him and Riley desperately cutting away at the plaster and wood. They could all hear a feeble knocking. Finally, they poked a hole into a dark void. The stink of human sweat, urine and feces slapped into them.
"Anybody there?"
"Help, no air." The voice was barely a whisper. They opened the hole enough for Jack to hop down. It was a ten-foot drop.
"Jack?" Riley called. Jack looked up and caught a flashlight. He turned it on and took in where he found himself. It was a dirt hole the size of half the cottage. Huddled together was a group of girls, the oldest couldn't have been more than fifteen. They were thin, some had blood and bruising on their naked bodies. Their eyes would haunt Jack for a long time. They had the numbness of someone who'd been through enough pain and misery they were numb and died inside. Jack took a step toward them. As one organism they moved in closer together. Jack stopped and crouched.
"Easy, ladies. My name's Jack. We're gonna get you out of here, ok?"
"New owner?" A small girl kneeling at the front of the pack said. Jack's stomach flip-flopped. The girl had an American accent. He studied them under the flashlight's faint yellow glow. It was hard to see under the grime, but they were from different nationalities.
"No, no one's going to own you anymore." The speaker frowned.
"How are we going to earn our living?" The girl asked.
"What's your name, Sweetheart?"
"Sylvania."
"Sylvania? Like the TV?" The girl shrugged, "My first owner said he bought me for the price of a 50 inch TV and that's what he called me. Jack closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
"Ok, Sylvania. You and your friends wait here, we'll get you outta here, ok?" She stared at him as if he was talking Urdu. Jack stood up and stepped back to the opening of the hole.
"Ri, we got about twenty girls down here that need some ladies to help them out. They need to be cleaned up and checked over." Riley nodded and turned to run. Jack returned to the girls.
"Ok, help's on the way. Where are you girls from? I'm from Texas; anybody know where that is?" A tiny girl hiding behind Sylvania raised her hand. Jack smiled and nodded.
"I think my Mommy lives in Amarillo." The girl began to cry, "They stole me a long time ago."
"Not that long ago," the oldest girl growled with anger. She had an accent that sounded Middle Eastern, possibly Saudi Arabian? She turned to Jack, "That's Macy she's been with us six months." Jack nodded. He had a million questions he wanted to ask but just wanted to get them to trust him. Talking was the first step. Jack looked at Macy and had to blink away tears. The girl couldn't have been more than 6 or 7.
"What's your name?"
"I am Jianna; my father sold me more than seven years ago. I've had seven owners, this one…" Jianna turned away, and Jack thought she was crying.
"Was it the old couple upstairs?"
"No, they're the mules." Jack was surprised to hear a boy's voice. He aimed the flashlight. The boy could have been anything from 7 to 14, he had longish hair and sounded Brazilian, "They transport...then there's auction." At this Jack saw all the kids flinch. Jack bit his lip forcing himself to sound casual.
"Do you know where this auction was going to be?"
"They don't talk to us." Jianna said, "They only train and correct us." Her voice was a cold blade dripping with bloody bitterness. Jack nodded. He heard more boots over their heads.
"When was the last time you guys ate?" Their silence was painful. Jack sighed and stood up. They all pulled back. He grimaced at the flame of pain across his side.
"They left us here to die." Another girl said in a hoarse whisper. Jack shook his head. If he hadn't accidentally tripped these kids would be dead and buried, and no one would know what happened to them. Macy's folks had to be going nuts looking for her. Jack rubbed his eyes. Some of the others...Jack hated the world sometimes. Jack turned at the sound of a rope hitting the ground behind him. He laid the flashlight on the ground and held the line as two women in Sherrif's uniformed rappeled down. They both clicked on portable lanterns. In the brighter white light, Jack could see he'd probably guessed their ages a bit high.
"God damned sons of bitches," Jack muttered. He could feel his hands form fists and his body shake.
"First time? I'm Zoe Lopez; this is my partner DeeDee Lancaster we're from the LA Regional Human Trafficking Special Task Force." The taller of the two women had the dark hair and skin of a Latina. Her handshake was firm and calloused.
"Jack Dalton, First time this up close," Jack muttered. The woman smiled sadly. Her dark eyes gleamed like obsidian. DeeDee, a smaller woman with platinum collar length hair, turned turquoise colored eyes at the small group. Jack noticed an X shaped scar on her left cheek. Her smiled carried the weight of too many miles.
"That's a gift from the first guy who bought me when I was trafficked as a teenager." Jack gaped at her unsure what to say. She waved a dismissive hand. "Old news, what do you know about these kids?" She asked. Jack quickly got both officers caught up to date. As they talked four women in street clothes crept over to the kids and spoke softly to them. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"These are volunteers from CAST an organization that helps trafficking victims. Others will be coming out to help too." Zoe said.
"We have a doctor here and can get most anything you need." Jack offered.
"We'll take the doctor; we'll need help with forensic baths and clothes."
"You got it. I'll get it set up." Jack turned away fast enough he felt like a coward. He paused and looked back. DeeDee patted him on the shoulder.
"We got it, Jack." After we get things sorted, we'll question them."
"I want in on that. My partner's missing." The two women exchanged a glance and shot Jack hard looks.
"We'll do everything we can." Jack nodded and shimmied up the rope. Riley helped him over to the side. Jack knelt a long minute catching his breath. He must have looked as horrible as he felt because Riley reached over and hugged him.
"We're gonna get Mac back and nail these fuckers," Riley growled in his ear. Jack grinned.
"That's my girl." Jack murmured. Riley returned a small angry smile, "Where's Matty and Cage?"
"Matty's making phone calls. She says there's a Phoenix safe house the kids can stay in while everything gets sorted." Jack nodded and breathed out in relief.
"Riley, I want you and Bozer to get what you can from these guys. Stay and help the ladies however you can."
"Bozer's at home." Jack nodded at the question under the statement.
"We need him more here. If Mac gets home, he'll be able to call." Riley nodded. Jack held his side grimacing as he stood up, "I'm going to watch Cage pull this guy's head apart."
"Too bad she can't actually do it," Riley remarked. Jack shrugged.
"You never know, I don't think anybody here would stick up for the scumbag." Riley nodded and climbed down into the hole. Jack rubbed his face and climbed the stairs to the second floor's main room. It looked like a TV nook or something. Jack gritted his teeth looking at the 50 inch Sylvania. He forced himself to breathe and his hands to unclench. The prisoner's face wasn't bandaged, and blood still ran freely from his curly black hair to his short black goatee. Cage looked up and smiled. Jack grinned and eyed the prisoner with full Delta rage. The man sneered, but couldn't hide the fear in his eyes. Cage sat on a floral gliding rocker facing the man in a low straight-backed chair.
Jack walked close behind the man smiling as the man's shoulders flinched. Jack backed away and sprawled on the couch staring at the prisoner like a jungle cat eyeing a wounded zebra. He pulled out his knife and began to pick his fingernails with it. The black-haired man managed to ignore Jack, but his Adam's apple bobbed like a basketball.
"Now," Cage asked sweetly, "shall we continue, Mr. Borshinov? Who do you work for?" The man narrowed his eyes and stared at her. Cage nodded, "I understand, you're scared of them. They could hurt you, maybe kill you? My friend over there, well if I were you I would be more afraid of him. You are standing between him and someone he cares a lot about, and I've heard over the years he's gotten talented of killing people very slowly and painfully." Cage sent a raised eye Jack's way. Jack nodded.
"One time in the Amazon I skinned a guy, it was pretty cool you could see all his innards like his beating heart, right? He did die...I think 18 hours later? By then there wasn't much else to carve off." Cage gave Jack a double take. She'd assumed Jack would play a part, but she couldn't find any sign the man was lying. She swallowed and looked at Borshinov showing her genuine concern. The man laughed with bravado.
"I know you can not do that to prisoners in this country you have rights and other ridiculous ideas." The man's Russian accent was more pronounced showing exactly how upset he was. Before Cage could open her mouth, Jack flipped his knife through the air. The man screamed when it thudded into his thigh with only the handle showing. Cage gaped at Jack who stood up and knelt beside the guy. Slowly he removed the knife twisting it as he pulled it out. The man screamed, his face turning ash white. Jack smiled the frigid grin of a striking cobra.
"You're right; we do have...that ridiculous stuff." Jack leaned closer until he was an inch from the man's ear, "Normally, but not for people we really, really like and right now, you're one of my favorite people in the world." The man shied back unable to hide his fear. Jack grinned as the man peed his pants. Jack stood, winked at Cage then grabbed a doily off the coffee table to clean his knife as he laid back down on the couch.
"So?" Cage asked. Borshinov stuttered as he tried to get all his information out fast. Matty joined the two Phoenix agents after they handed the man off to cops. Matty raised an eyebrow at Cage who shrugged, "It wasn't me." She said. Matty closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Why am I not surprised? It's fine, Jack. No one is going to cry any tears especially after seeing those kids they left here to die." Jack nodded gratefully, "What did we find out?"
"After Evalina escaped, the word came down the chain to close up shop," Jack said.
"Before that, there was suppose to be an auction at a rich couple's sprawling mansion tonight to show the merchandise." Cage said unable to keep her disgust out of her tone.
"The Grants?"
"Seems likely, I guess they were frequent customers. Our Dr. Sexy has some sick predilections." Jack growled, "I can't believe we missed his Kilov connection."
"That's on me, Jack," Matty said looking away.
"Matty, you said there isn't any record of a connection between Grant and Russia and nothing anywhere about a brother." Cage argued. Matty's eyes snapped to the younger woman's face sparkling with guilt and anger.
"It's my job to know." Jack slipped his knife back into its sheath in his boot.
"Guilt won't get us Mac back." Jack glanced at his watch, "Three hours to sundown. I think we should hit them with full TAC." Matty nodded.
"You have a go, Jack." Matty gave him a steady look, "You get blondie back whatever it takes." Jack nodded.
"That's the plan. I kinda hope they put up a fight."